3. South Asian Perspective: A Case of Urban Air Pollution and Potential for Climate Co-benefits in India

This chapter provides an analysis of the urban pollution and potential for co-benefits in India, making a comparison with other South Asian countries. Most of the South Asian countries are at the stage of developing or emerging economies, and India is the fastest growing economy among them. The Indian subcontinent is comprised of hundreds of densely populated large and medium size cities including five megacities (each with a population of more than 10 million). Constantly increasing energy-intensive urban activities in burgeoning cities and biomass burning in rural areas of India are responsible for a large share in the unacceptably high emissions of health-endangering and environment-polluting gaseous and particulate pollutants. The air pollution problem in India and the rest of the South Asia came into the spotlight by the South Asian haze called the Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC), which is said to be responsible for annually 100,000s premature deaths in the South Asian region (Lelieveld et al. 2001). Given the increasing trend of energy use and emissions in Indian cities, the present study is a step to make governments and people aware of the extent and intensity of the ambient as well as the indoor air pollution problem. The analysis presented in this study is expected to help initiate appropriate policy measures and suitable action plans to limit emissions and adopt ways based on the co-benefits approach that promote sustainable development.